


blown my cover

by nitorisource



Category: Free!
Genre: Body Swap, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-25
Updated: 2015-02-10
Packaged: 2018-03-09 00:13:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3228923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nitorisource/pseuds/nitorisource
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Makoto and Sousuke wake up in one another's beds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

When Makoto first blearily opens his eyes, his head is pounding like it’d been done in with a blunt object the night before. The room is still dark as he gropes around his futon for his phone, only for his hand to hit the wall despite the fact that his bed is placed closer to the center of his room. The ceiling, too… it’s closer to his face than it should be.

With a sigh, he shifts into a sitting position, his hands fisting in the sheets as his headache intensifies.

“What—“

As soon as that first word is out, he shuts his mouth and he blinks a few times.

That doesn’t quite sound like him, and he tentatively probes at his throat with his shaky hands. Aside from the headache, he feels fine overall – no cold or fever or even the slightest sore throat.

He glances down and jolts with surprise at his half-naked body and the pair of dark-gray boxers he didn’t even know he owned. Additionally, his sheets are a deep-colored blue instead of the pale, patterned green that he’s certain he went to bed in last night, and he realizes he’s on a mattress instead of a futon.

A quick glance around the room tells him that wherever he is, he’s not home. He’s on the top bunk in some unfamiliar room – though he eyes catch onto a familiar-looking Samezuka jacket draped over the back of a chair, and his stomach twists as unwilling realization begins to settle over him.

Very uneasily, he brings one hand close to his face for examination, and at this point he feels like he must be losing it because he’d recognize something like his own hand and this isn’t it. Somehow, it’s larger than it should be, and even the skin tone looks off. He hastily tosses his blanket to the side and stares down the rest of the body he can’t say is his, and although it doesn’t seem too different—

“Hey, Sousuke, you still in bed?”

That’s Rin’s voice. That’s definitely Rin’s voice coming from the bed below him.

And Rin just called him—

Makoto doesn’t even realize he’s been staring wide-eyed at his too-large hands until Rin chucks a pillow at his head and startles him from his shell-shocked state.

“C’mon, are you planning to go to class or what?” Rin asks, scowling from where he’s standing in the middle of the room.

“R-right. Sorry. Y-yeah, I’ll get ready for class now.” Makoto’s sputtering tapers down to almost a whisper towards the end, because his stomach twists with every unfamiliar noise that leaves his throat.

“Um. Okay?” Rin’s giving him an odd look now, his eyes narrowed as he asks, “Are you feeling alright, Sou? You look a little pale.”

“I’m fine, I’m completely fine, Rin! You don’t need to worry about me, I’m fine.” Makoto raises his hands in front of him as he frets, and he even lets out a shaky, half-assed laugh from his nervousness, which is not what Makoto ever imagined Sousuke would sound like if he ever did witness him laughing.

This only seems put off Rin worse than before, but he brushes it away a moment later and grabs his towel, muttering something about how weird Sousuke’s been acting lately.

“By the way, your phone’s been ringing the past half hour,” Rin says just before he leaves the room. “I didn’t know Makoto had your number.”

As soon as the door shuts, Makoto feels his facial expression fill with dread again. He quickly pushes his pillows and blankets away as he hastily makes his way down the ladder, only for him to falter on one of the steps – there’s a sudden pain in his shoulder when he has to shift his weight to it, and he doesn’t get the same feeling from his other shoulder.

It’s only another concern added to his heap of many, but for now he hops down the rest of the way and stumbles towards where a teal-colored phone is blinking on his desk.

Sure enough, he recognizes that number on the screen, and the six missed calls could only have been made from his phone. There are over ten messages as well, and Makoto frantically scrolls through them as his discomfort continues to mount.

Only now has he begun to worry about the state of his body if, at the moment, he isn’t occupying it.

_Tachibana [06:13]: Answer the phone_

_Tachibana [06:13]: Tachibana I swear to god this better be you_

_Tachibana [06:17]: What the fuck is going on_

_Tachibana [06:22]: Answer the fucking phone_

_Tachibana [06:37]: Why the hell_

_Tachibana [06:37]: What the fuck_

The rest of the messages are in incoherent mess of key-smashing and colorful profanity that, Makoto assumes, must be coming from none other than Sousuke. Despite the fact that literally nothing about this situation makes sense in the slightest, it _would_ make sense that they have simply switched, right?

They’ve just switched bodies.

No big deal.

Makoto’s hands and knees are shaking too terribly and he’s breathing too hard for him to answer just yet. He flips the phone shut and all but throws it back onto the desk as he braces himself on the back of the chair just to keep himself upright. His fingers curl into the black fabric of the Samezuka jacket – of his Samezuka jacket? – and his stomach flips again.

He makes the mistake of glancing around the room and his eyes catch on the wall-length mirror on the opposite wall.

It’s incredibly disorienting to look into a mirror and not see what he expected. His hair is black and cut short, his eyes – as horror-struck as they might be – are a cold shade of teal, and he’s currently standing around in nothing but a pair of boxers. He hesitantly turns his head and raises a hand, eyes glued to the mirror, as though to confirm that it is a mirror and not, hopefully, just a window. But his reflection follow him to a tee and there’s no mistaking what this is him in the mirror.

Makoto ends up darting out of the room and straight down the hall until he reaches the sign for the restrooms, where he barges in half-naked in order to throw up in the nearest available stall. As soon as he’s done hurling, he admits that he feels more level-headed now, and he cleans himself up – ignoring the weirded-out look of the underclassmen brushing his teeth – and quickly heads back in order to call his phone back.

Only he apparently needs a key to get back into his room, and in his panic-induced hurry didn’t even think about something like this.

He quietly stands facing the door in his clothes-less state as several students walk past him. Makoto can make out their confused, and somewhat disturbed, murmurs wondering whether Yamazaki-san is okay this morning, and Makoto has to bite his lip to keep from crying, maybe.

He’s relieved when Rin returns from his shower, though Makoto is so red-faced that he can hardly stammer out an explanation. Rin’s baffled, to say the least, and very obviously irritated with Sousuke’s strange behavior, but they’re going to be late to class so he just barks at him to get dressed.

Rin continues to give his friend an odd look as Makoto merely nods his head, offers another apology, and does as he’s told without even an insult or sarcastic quip in reply.

 

Someone keeps trying to nudge him awake, but after having such a long night, Sousuke intends to sleep right down to the last minute before class. He can’t give less of a fuck as to what Rin might want so early in the morning since he’s the reason they both got home so late and were nearly caught for sneaking in after hours.

When the nudging becomes too much, Sousuke rolls over to the other side of the bed and mutters, “Fuck off, Rin,” as he tries to pull his covers over his head. He’s expecting to hit the side railing of his bed as he does so, but when he’s met with nothing but the edge of his bed, his eyes fly wide open with surprise. It’s too late to stop him from falling, though, and he only has time to flail uselessly in his tangled-up blankets as he falls over to brace himself—

But it’s a surprisingly short fall to the floor.

In fact, his bunk-bed appears to have been replaced with a slightly-raised futon that probably would not have enough room for his best friend to sleep beneath.

He hastily tries to sit up as his drowsiness is slowly encroached by mildly-concerned confusion at just how unfamiliar everything in this room seems. Green blanket. Poster-covered walls. Unkempt desk. White uniform hung up against the wall.

His eyes land on the person on the other side of the futon. They’re definitely too small to be Rin, though Sousuke might’ve been fooled by the tears currently welling in this person’s eyes. Before he can get out a word, the small person opens their mouth and a loud cry leaves their lips.

“Onii-chan! You’re so mean! You said a bad word!”

They stand in a hurry, still weeping loudly as they rush out of the room and slam the door shut behind them.

“Who the fuck… was… that?”

Sousuke pauses, long and hard, unable to process what feels so very, terribly wrong all of a sudden.

This isn’t his voice.

Just a few moments later he’s stumbling outside the room in search of the bathroom – he ends up in the kitchen at first, somehow, then accidentally opens the door to the room where two adults are sleeping in – where he flips the lights on and finds an unpleasant surprise on the mirror in front of him.

Brown hair. Green eyes. That’s all Sousuke needs to confirm that he is not himself right now, though he continues to probe his face carefully, only to feel his stomach drop lower to the ground each time the reflection follows his every movement.

He’s gripped with pure shock at first, because he can’t find any explanation for his current situation aside from this maybe being a dream.

Thankfully, he isn’t an idiot. Through his haze of a panic, he does connect the Iwatobi uniform and the green eyes and olive-brown hair to a certain one of Rin’s friends.

He finds a green phone on the floor and scrolls through the contacts until – thank god – he finds his own name listed towards the end. He doesn’t even bother wondering how Tachibana’s got his number since he’s sure that he doesn’t have Tachibana’s, he just hits the call button and swears under his breath each time his call ends with the sound of his crappy, awkward, blunt voicemail message.

He realizes that it’s only six in the morning and that it could be a long wait until whoever the fuck has his phone does answer.

The door creaks open slowly, and a timid voice calls out, “Onii-chan? Are – are you okay?”

“He’s being mean,” comes another voice. The voice of whoever Sousuke had made cry earlier, it sounds like. “He said the f-word to me earlier…”

Sousuke does remember these two, as faint as the memory might be, but he recalls them as the two high-pitched nuisances cheering on their older brother from the sidelines of the relay at Splash Fest!

“Holy shit,” Sousuke whispers to himself. At least, he means to say it to himself, but it seems that the two at the door hear him clearly enough.

Suddenly, there are two headaches running through the house crying and shouting about where their real brother could have gone, and Sousuke is troubled with the task of calming down the two brats without muttering a swear every other word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this probably will get a lil confusing???? but when i refer to makoto or sousuke i refer to their "minds" i guess u could say, not to their bodies. so everyone is speaking to the wrong makoto or sousuke
> 
> for updates and stuff u can look at the tumblr tag [#blown my cover (fic)](http://tumblr.com/tagged/blown%20my%20cover%20\(fic\))  
> i greatly appreciate all the comments and support!! :0


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a quick update /flails around/ i dont kno what i'm doing

He needs to tell Rin.

Makoto knows he needs to inform Rin that the person he currently keeps calling ‘Sousuke’ is not, in fact, his best friend from Sano Elementary. However, he _does_ like to think that he _is_ one of Rin’s best friends, though, because he does consider Rin one of _his_ and—and that’s beside the point, what labels he and Rin use, that doesn’t matter right now.

“Hey, Sou, we need to get going.”

But what if Rin doesn’t take it well? The whole body-swap thing, that is. Makoto imagines trying to explain this situation to Rin and only having him laugh in his face and call it a good prank. Or maybe it’ll piss him off, because Makoto (or Sousuke, in Rin’s eyes) has been acting strange all morning and they’re already late for class and—

“Sousuke, what the fuck, the first bell’s rung already.”

\--If Makoto was in Rin’s shoes, he doubts he’d ever believe it if Rin said he had swapped bodies with someone else. He tries to imagine it, and he thinks he’d only be a little worried about whether his poor friend had glugged down too much pool water if he’d ever come to him with that kind of story. That’s right, Makoto wouldn’t believe something as incredibly farfetched and apocryphal and completely impossible as switching bodies with another person, but here he is—

“Who are you texting at a time like this? Are you trying to make us late?”

Rin finally stomps over from where he’s been standing at the door – forced to witness his friend do everything from opening drawers at random to putting his pants on backwards to cramming two left shoes onto his feet – and snatches the phone from his fingers. Makoto’s reflexes are slower than Rin thought they’d be, and his eyes scan the screen as he holds the phone out of Mako’s grasp.

“ _’Just skip school dumbass we need to meet asap’_ from… Tachibana?” Rin reads aloud. “Hold on, why are you texting Makoto? And – what the fuck, are these texts seriously from _Makoto_? Why is he swearing so much?”

“N-no reason, we’re just – c’mon Rin, give my phone back!” Makoto whines – he finds that _whining_ does not exactly suit his voice anymore, and the sound of it seems to make both he and Rin cringe. He wonders if his face is flushing bright red or not, but either way he’s embarrassed that Rin is assuming he uses the kind of vulgar language that Sousuke has pasted all over their text stream.

“Dude, why do you sound like – never mind, c’mon, we’ve gotta go!” Rin tosses the phone back and is already tugging Makoto out the door by the arm.

Makoto only manages to type out one hasty message before hitting send.

_Yamazaki [08:46]: Please don’t ditch!! Get Haru out of the tub before school starts!!_

 

* * *

 

Sousuke can’t believe this square seriously expects both of them to attend school despite their dire situation. He’s been trying to convince his counterpart to skip school for a day so they can, maybe, figure out what the fuck is wrong with both of them, but it seems Tachibana isn’t as much of a pushover as he looks. Sousuke is pretty sure that a case of inexplicable body swapping gives them both an excuse to transcend whatever societal expectations they might have for that day, but Tachibana is apparently having none of that. Sousuke figures that the nerd must have a perfect attendance record like Rin to tend after.

It’s already taken the better part of the morning to calm down the two brats, whose names he continues to mix up, because who thought that naming a pair of fraternal twins Ren and Ran would be a good idea, Sousuke has bitterly wondered. One of them – Ran? The girl, he thinks? – is hellbent on accusing the person in her brother’s body that he is not, in fact, her brother. Which would be right, that Sousuke has no idea how to deal with these two crying, squabbling, noisy kids on the daily like Makoto does, nor does he want to be related to either of them.

He can’t exactly try to explain who he is, however, because he himself isn’t sure how he ended up in this situation.

He ends up trying to shut their cantankerous mouths by cooking them breakfast, which is a mistake at first because they both tell him that Makoto shouldn’t know how to cook and it only places Sousuke deeper in hell. Even the other twin is starting to get on board with his sister. Sousuke almost finds himself getting into a shouting mouth with a pair of elementary-school aged children, but their boisterous breakfast talk is enough to rouse the parents out of bed before that can happen.

Sousuke is certain that if these two kids can sense something off with their brother, then the parents will probably figure that out a whole lot quicker. The last thing he wants to deal with are a pair of concerned adults asking where their son is – he’s never been great with dealing with his own parents, and this family seems more tight-knitted for his liking – so he excuses himself to his room before any conversation can be made.

_Tachibana [08:33]: Tachibana for fuck’s sake forget about school_

_Tachibana [08:33]:_   _We go to different schools_

 _Tachibana [08:34]:_   _We need to fix this NOW_

Sousuke checks the time and sees that Samezuka’s first period should be starting any moment now. At this point, Rin must be trying to drag him to class, if Makoto hasn’t already tried to explain his current status, but Sousuke gets the feeling that neither of them will be able to confide this kind of crazy thing to anyone.

 _Yamazaki [08:38]:_   _I’m sure we can figure this out after school, Yamazaki-kun…_

 _Yamazaki [08:39]:_   _For now we should just act like one another?_

Sousuke still doesn’t like the sight of his own name on this screen, as though he’s having a conversation with himself. He shakes his head and types out his response.

 _Tachibana [08:42]:_   _Just skip school dumbass we need to meet asap_

The idea of continuing this whole Makoto Tachibana act outside of the household makes Sousuke’s stomach drop, especially considering the fact that he knows little about Tachibana to begin with.

__Yamazaki [08:46]:_  Please don’t ditch!! Get Haru out of the tub before school starts!!_

Sousuke drops his head down onto his desk.

 

He knows he can’t exactly stay at home, and he gets the feeling that if he’s caught being a truant that he’d only postpone their getting back to normal. Even so, he can’t help but grumble and curse all of heaven and above when he finds himself dressed in Iwatobi’s tacky uniform and standing outside Nanase’s place.

He already has a bad idea about what it means to get him ‘out of the tub’ but he doesn’t know how to get to school, so he figures that seeing Nanase’s ugly mug is just an unavoidable part of the Makoto Tachibana Experience. He knocks on the door and, unsurprisingly, hears no answer, and he trudges unwillingly into the house. He remembers stopping by here once, way back when they were kids, so he already knows that Nanase pretty much lives alone. The place looks more or less the same as it was back then, too.

“Na – I mean… fuck.” Sousuke adjusts his shoulder bag as he steels himself. “Haru,” he deadpans to the empty living room. “Haru, let’s go to school.”

Still no answer. Sousuke glances down at his weird watch, then remembers he doesn’t know how to read the time off the damn thing, and when he checks his phone he realizes he also doesn’t know what time school is supposed to start. This is starting to culminate into one big, fucking bother and he’s contemplating sitting it out at the beach for seven or so hours, but he’s already walking towards the bathroom.

He’s prepared himself to discover a naked Nanase in the bathroom. He doesn’t want to be alarmed, he’s seen tons of shirtless, wet, naked guys in his lifetime and he bets that Tachibana and Nanase, being the best friends that they are, probably happily see each other naked all the damn time. He’s just not particularly happy about seeing Nanase naked, that’s probably more of Rin’s thing, but he wants to get this over with.

After a tentative knock and a mumbled, “I’m coming in,” Sousuke opens the door and tries his best not to cringe.

Nanase stares up at him from where he’s sitting in the tub. And even from here, Sousuke can tell that the guy’s got his fucking trademark swim suit covering his bottom half.

“Why… why the fuck are you sitting in the tub with your swim suit on?” Sousuke mutters in disbelief.

A heartbeat passes through the silence of the room as his words settle into both their minds. Nanase is still staring at him, but Sousuke can make out the almost imperceptible widening of his deep blue eyes. He’s forgotten that Nanase is currently looking at _Makoto_ right now, and that Makoto should not have said what he just did.

“… What?” Nanase’s eyes narrow now, suspicion starting to taint his neutral expression.

“I mean—“

“Makoto, you—“

“We’re gonna be late for school, just get out of there and put some clothes on,” Sousuke says curtly, cutting him off. He wants to kick himself for that additional uncharacteristic remark, but his urge of snapping at this neat-haired little shit overcomes whatever rational part of him is reminding him to act like the body he’s in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for updates and stuff u can look at the tumblr tag [#blown my cover (fic)](http://tumblr.com/tagged/blown%20my%20cover%20\(fic\))  
> i greatly appreciate all the comments and support!! :0


	3. Chapter 3

 Nanase is awfully quiet the whole way to school, but Sousuke decides not to dwell on it. After all, he’s certain that his shit impersonation of Tachibana won’t be getting past the guy who shares supposed best-friends-forever telepathy with him, a feature that Sousuke is glad doesn’t come with this new body of his. Having to listen to Nanase spew his disturbingly soul-touching paragraphs about his love of water isn’t exactly what he needs at the moment.

Instead of worrying too much, he tries instead to reflect on what he knows of Tachibana so far in hopes of not setting off alarms with anyone else. He hates the idea of anyone pestering him with anything like ‘You’re not acting yourself today, Tachibana,’ or ‘Are you okay, Tachibana?’

He blanks. Completely.

All that comes to mind is the fact that Tachibana smiles. A lot. There’s nothing but a constantly rolling film of Tachibana _smiling_ at him in his mind, and yeah, he admits that his smile is pretty nice, but he can’t imagine smiling his way through the rest of the day. In fact, Sousuke tries it right now, tries to lift his lips up to imitate that trademark Tachibana smile –

It feels stupid when he does it. He allows his lips to fall back into the flat, displeased line that it’s probably been set in all morning, which doesn’t feel all too familiar on this face but Sousuke doesn’t care.

So, aside from smiling, Tachibana’s a pretty nice guy. Like, the kind to open doors and offer to stay behind to tidy up after practice and volunteer to lift heavy things for other people and ask you how your day is going and offer to pay for lunch and…

Sousuke stops walking. As long as he can find a way back to his own body, there’s no need to think about him so much.

Ahead of him, Nanase stops as well and half-turns around. He doesn’t say anything, and Sousuke runs a bit to catch up.

It’s going to be a long day of school.

 

* * *

 

“Yamazaki-kun?”

Makoto is still having a rather hard time responding to a different name, but he perks up when he notices a few of the other students looking in his direction.

“Ah, yes sensei--?”

“Is there something you need?”

“Um… no, I don’t think so,” Makoto answers, staring uneasily at the notebook and pencil laid out neatly on his desk.

“Your class is next door, Yamazaki-kun,” the teacher says, letting out a sigh. “This is the first-year English class, in case you haven’t noticed yet.”

“Oh – oh! I’m sorry, I thought – I mean, Minami-kun – and – okay.” Makoto hastily gathers his things, his head ducked in embarrassment – though he can’t tell whether his face is heating up or if it’s just his imagination – and shuffles his way towards the door.

On the way, he passes by the younger Mikoshiba’s desk, one of the people he’d asked earlier about where his next class was. He’d searched diligently for any semblance of a schedule in Sousuke’s things, but it seems that Sousuke packs his bag rather… sparsely. There’s just one notebook of loose crumpled papers, a pencil, and enough snacks to get him through the whole day, probably. Now, Makoto realizes why Momotarou, Minami, and a few of the others from the swim team were all so chipper to direct him to his next class.

Momo-kun has a hand clamped over his mouth, obviously suppressing a few giggles, until Makoto approaches. He suddenly straightens up and wipes the smug look from his face as though expecting a lecture, but Makoto only gives him a sheepish smile as he heads towards the door.

It’s already fifteen minutes into class by the time he’s where he’s supposed to be, and the teacher tells him that this is apparently his fourth tardy this month, which means he’s spending his lunch grading papers today.

He sits down, trying not to pay too much mind to the giggles around him, and wonders how Sousuke is doing in his body right now.

 

* * *

 

Makoto, like the cute goody-two-shoes he is, has his entire school schedule written out in neat handwriting on the inside of his notebook. It makes Sousuke think that Tachibana is probably the kind of guy to sew his name into the hem of his underwear – which actually isn’t true of the pair that Sousuke had hastily pulled on when he was getting dressed that morning – and he’s really grateful that he knows where he’s going today.

Of course, this makes him wonder whether the poor guy’s going to be able to navigate Samezuka all on his own today, because he’s only got two classes with Rin and he doubts that the likes of Momo or Uozumi would give him any helpful directions. Maybe if he finds Ai wandering around…

“Tachibana-kun… Tachibana-kun?”

That voice has been calling out to him for a while now, and Sousuke finally scrounges up the care to turn around and cast this guy a glower. The other student looks like he’s going to ask for something, but he flinches and ducks his head instead, worrying his lip between his teeth. Sousuke lets out a huff and faces forward again, and from the corner of his eye he sees Haru giving him a subtle, sidelong glance.

His phone buzzes a few times in his pocket and he makes sure the teacher at the front of the class has his attention elsewhere before he fishes it out. He expects the text from Makoto – or, well, from his phone – but notices there’s another name at the top of the list.

 _Shigino Kisumi_. Sousuke scowls down at his screen as message after message arrives, and he wonders how fast the guy has to be typing to send so much. A handful of them are picture messages too, it seems, and out of curiosity he selects the message stream and—

_Ki-chan [11:03]: Mako-chan~ (_ _ﾟ▽ﾟ)/_

_Ki-chan [11:03]: There’s a new café that just opened by the station!_

_Ki-chan [11:03]: Let’s make it a date!_

_Ki-chan [11:04]: I also want to show you the new skirt I borrowed~_

It takes a moment for Sousuke to process the last message, so by the time he has the wits to hurriedly exit the message, the picture loads.

He gets an eyeful of what looks like lacy, light-green panties underneath a school skirt.

This is not a facet of Tachibana’s life that Sousuke really needed to know.

“O – oh. Tachibana-kun?” There’s a girl standing in front of his desk and he tries his best to casually flip his phone shut, but judging by the excessive amount of blush on her cheeks she must have accidentally gotten a peek of his screen, which he himself didn’t even want to witness. Sousuke keeps his mouth shut and raises her eyebrows at her.

“Um, I was – I was wondering if you’d mind staying after school to help decorate the gym. You don’t have practice, right?”

“Can’t. I’m meeting someone,” Sousuke tells her bluntly, pretending to shuffle through the textbook in front of him. When he glances back up, a few moments later, she’s still there with this surprised look on her face.

Right. Tachibana probably wouldn’t have hesitated in saying yes. He probably would have offered to take care of the whole thing himself and have everyone else go home early and—

Well, he has more important things to take care of. His phone buzzes again in his palm and as he takes it out, the girl gets flustered again and skitters off. It’s another picture message from Kisumi, but Sousuke skips down to his own name.

_Yamazaki [11:13]: Can we meet at the station near Iwatobi HS at 5?_

_Tachibana [11:14]: wtf why so late_

_Yamazaki [11:16] Rin’s called for practice today since he has to cancel it Thursday, so I’ll head over once it’s finished!_

“Ah, fuck,” Sousuke mutters to himself, glaring down at his phone.

Someone approaches his table again – for a damn study period, Makoto sure gets his share of visitors, doesn’t he? – but before they can ask whatever it is they want to ask, he says dismissively, “Not now.”

_Tachibana [11:18] DO NOT GO TO PRACTICE!!1_

_Yamazaki [11:18] But Rin will get upset at you if I try to skip, won’t he? :(_

_Tachibana [11:19] let me deal with him later U JUST CANT GO. Got it?_

_Yamazaki [11:23] Yeah, okay, I won’t…_

_Yamazaki [11:23] btw, aren’t you still in class? It won’t be good if you’re caught texting, Miyaji-sensei is strict about phones in class._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbqh this probably isnt going to go anywhere \\( ﾟ▽ﾟ)/  
> but if u wanna give me any ideas u can drop a line @ [sousukesarms](http://sousukesarms.tumblr.com)
> 
> for updates and stuff u can look at the tumblr tag [#blown my cover (fic)](http://tumblr.com/tagged/blown%20my%20cover%20\(fic\))  
> i greatly appreciate all the comments and support!! :0


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is confusing?? but when i mention sousuke i mean sousuke's mind and soul and not his physical body (likewise for when i say makoto) and when referring specifically to their bodies i say something like "the hand of his body." ok ok ok makes sense??  
> ya boy just tryna update once a week

“Yamazakiii-senpai!”

Even if Makoto still has a rather slow reaction rate to the name, there’s no ignoring the sudden scream that rings out through the courtyard. He’s just about to head out the gate and straight to the station – he feels a little guilty about the lengths he went just to avoid running into Rin after his final class – but turns around and finds Momo sprinting towards him, followed by a few of the others from the swim team.

“Are you going somewhere?” Momo asks once he’s caught up, hardly out of breath. In the span of just one day he’s learned that Momo has a tendency of really getting into other people’s spaces.

“Ah – well, not really. I mean, yes, I’m leaving for a bit,” Makoto answers, scratching his cheek a little as he glances back at his exit.

“You’re not going to practice?” Uozumi pipes up, raising an eyebrow.

“Um, let’s just… not tell Rin about this? Please? I’ve really gotta go.” It hurts a little having to ask them to help him deceive Rin, but he’s gotten a handful of colorfully threatening messages from Sousuke about skipping practice. Plus, after suffering through Sousuke’s upper level math class – and even being called to the board to work through a problem because apparently the teacher holds Sousuke in rather high regards in her class – he’s not sure he’s up for another day of A Day in The Life of Yamazaki Sousuke.

“Wait, wait, I wanted to ask if you’d help and coach me,” Momo whines, his hands slapped together in front of him and his head bowed in pleading. “Please, please, please Yamazaki-senpai, coach me!”

“Momo-kun, give it up already,” Minami says, shaking his head. “Yamazaki-senpai said he’d rather swim all the way to America and live there for a decade than spend a second coaching you.” He and Uozumi share laughter between them as Momo spins around and directs spiteful looks in their direction.

“Well, I don’t see why not, though…?” Makoto offers hesitantly. He recalls competing against Momotarou during prefects and he was pretty good, though he’s certain Momo still has a long way to go. Perhaps when he gets back to his own body he can hold through with his offer. “Maybe next week I can take a look at your stroke, Momo-kun. Ah, but for now, I really have to go. I’ll see you all later!”

Makoto parts them with a small wave and a huge grin as he jogs off towards the gate, and no one in the group tries to hold him back this time.

By the time he’s gone, Ai is the first to speak among his dumbfounded friends.

“Did you… Yamazaki-senpai, he smiled at us, huh?”

“Y-yeah,” Uozumi says slowly. “And I thought he’d be mad about us telling him the wrong classroom to go to earlier.”

“He said _yes_!” Momotarou exclaims. He throws his hands up in the air and does that weird otter motion he likes to do. “Yamazaki-senpai actually said yes and he even called me ‘Momo-kun’ instead of just ‘Mikoshiba’! Did you guys hear that?”

“He’s been acting a little weird today, huh? And he asked us so nicely not to tell captain about where he’s going today. Normally, he’d threaten us, right?” Minami adds. The four of them are silent for a few moments, exchanging questioning looks with one another.

“Maybe Yamazaki-senpai is off to meet his secret lover!” Momo suggests, his eyes sparkling at the thought. “That would explain why he’s suddenly in such a good mood!”

Everyone rolls their eyes at him.

 

* * *

 

Since the last class on his schedule contains both English and Nanase, Sousuke decides he’s had enough for a day and decides to waste the rest of the school day spread out on the easily accessible roof (the security here is far more lax than Samezuka’s, which is something Sousuke could get used to, maybe). About ten minutes before the final bell rings out, he makes his way towards the front of the school and successfully evades the crowd and any of Tachibana’s little friends – specifically, that blond with a penchant of shrieking out ‘Mako-chan!’ and latching onto his arm.

As soon as he arrives at the station, their agreed meet-up location, a train is already pulling up while part of Sousuke hopes that Tachibana is amongst its passengers he also feels a little sick to his stomach at the thought of seeing his body walking around without him in it.

He doesn’t have much time to dwell on it, unfortunately, because he makes eye contact with someone else. Violet eyes, pink hair – it’s none other than the second-to-last person that Sousuke would rather not meet in his condition.

“Mako-chan!”

It only takes a handful of overly-excited, long strides for Kisumi to reach where Sousuke is standing, and he reaches out for Sousuke’s wrist before he can have the chance to turn away.

“What are you doing here?” Sousuke asks bitterly. Kisumi’s grip is surprisingly strong. Worryingly so.

“Eh? Didn’t you get my mail? You haven’t responded to me all day. Even I get lonely, you know? I said I’d come pick you up at the station today,” Kisumi exclaims, throwing his arms around Sousuke’s shoulders. Sousuke has the fight the urge of shoving his guy away from him so he endures for the time being – long enough to hear a familiar voice ring out through the crowded station.

“Yamazaki-kun!”

His voice sounds a little off-key when he’s not the one using it, but Sousuke recognizes it well enough and he twists his neck around to catch the sight of – of himself approaching him. He looks a little out of breath and his cheeks are faintly stained red from the stinging cold. Since the only time Sousuke ever really sees himself is from in front of a mirror, it’s heavily disorienting to watch his body move of its own accord.

“Yamazaki?” Kisumi asks, finally releasing Sousuke. “Oh – oh, Sou-chan! What are you doing here?” Then, as though it’s the most natural thing in the world, Kisumi slinks an arm around Sousuke’s waist and pulls him in close.

Sousuke wants to punch him, he really does, but he wants to focus on his and Tachibana’s situation for now.

“Hey… Yamazaki-kun,” Sousuke forces out. He watches the face of his body shift from surprise to panic to vague unease, and the sheer amount of emotiveness that Tachibana gives Sousuke’s normally stoic face makes Sousuke irked. He tries to discreetly unwedge himself from Kisumi’s side, but the guy has incredible arm strength despite his unassuming build.

“Right – ah, yes, Tachibana-kun!” There’s a wide grin plastered onto his face and his hand subconsciously reaches up to nervously scratch the back of his head.

Sousuke wants to give himself a face palm. It seems that Tachibana is completely unversed in the art of acting natural.

“I didn’t know you and Sou-chan were friends,” Kisumi says lowly, bringing his face close to Sousuke’s ear. He feels Kisumi’s fingers begin to toy with the hem of his uniform pants in a not-so-subtle way and Sousuke thinks that when he’s back in his own body, he’s definitely going to sock this guy right in the face for how brazenly he thinks he can act in public.

“O-oh. Um, right, well – Ya – I mean, Tachibana-kun and I were just… he was going to help me with my literature paper,” Makoto says uncertainly.

Kisumi lets out a loud laugh, even going so far as to wipe an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye. “Sousuke, since when did you care about school?”

“Look, how about we hang out some other time?” Sousuke finally bites out, unable to handle being around Kisumi any longer or having to watch on standby as Tachibana sweats right through his clothes. “He and I have things to take care of.”

“But I wanted to go to the new café today, Mako-chan,” Kisumi whines shamelessly. He tugs on Sousuke’s arm and his lips jut out in a pout that probably works every time he uses it on Tachibana – in fact, Sousuke glances up and sees that his body has on this expression that looks like he feels sorry for Kisumi, which would never actually happen because fuck this guy – but Sousuke wrenches himself away and holds Kisumi at arm length.

“Well you’re just going to have to wait until next time,” Sousuke tells him sternly, his tone daring Kisumi to argue back.

Kisumi smirks at him as he takes a step back, but his hand reaches up to grasp Sousuke by the wrist and with just a small tug he has Sousuke tumbling straight into his arms.

“You’re cute when you’re assertive, Makoto,” Kisumi tells him, and before Sousuke can protest, Kisumi seals a kiss over his open mouth.

The real Makoto has been standing by with a mixture of horror and unadmittable jealously, but when he sees the spark of anger in his face’s green eyes, he finally steps forward and unwinds the two before an actual fight can break out.

“We’ll be seeing you, Ki-chan,” Makoto says hurriedly.

“Ki-chan?”

“I mean—“

“We’re fucking leaving,” Sousuke mutters out, shoving Makoto ahead of him and not sparing Kisumi a second glance.

* * *

 

“Tachibana, what the fuck was that? Are you dating that moron? You probably should have warned me or something!” Sousuke is absolutely livid, and as much as Makoto is trembling under his heated words, he’s also slightly more bothered at sight of himself getting so worked up. He’s not sure he’s ever seen himself in the mirror or in a photograph with this expression – eyebrows furrowed, jaw set, shoulders tense. His voice also sounds deeper than he’d thought, and he hopes this isn’t permanent.

“I’m sorry, Yamazaki-kun, Kisumi isn’t – he’s not usually like that, and we’re not dating – I swear we aren’t, he just sometimes takes his teasing too far…” Makoto holds his hands up, and Sousuke stares him in the eye for a few moments before letting out a sharp exhale and swiping the back of his hand over his lips for the eight time.

“Fine, fine, whatever. Anyway, we have to fix all _this_ anyway.” Sousuke gestures at both of them and Makoto nods at him, sitting back on his heel.

“Right. But, um, I have no idea, really, how we got like this. I don’t even remember much of the past weekend, to be honest,” Makoto says, running his hand through his hair. It feels shorter than he’s accustomed to, and not as soft.

“I remember getting home late. I think we were with Rin and the others – some kind of third-year party? I don’t know.” Sousuke shakes his head and leans himself against the wall, Makoto’s expression still set in frustration. His Iwatobi uniform is also ruffled and untucked, and his tie is loosened.

“By the way, Yamazaki-kun, how was Haru doing today?”

Sousuke shrugs. “Dunno. Alright, I guess.”

“Ah. I see.” Makoto hands his head and starts to trace patterns on the concrete between his feet, and Sousuke can’t help but stare at his body and feel like he’s staring at some kind of giant kid in a grown man’s body.

“Does anyone know something is up with our bodies?” Sousuke asks him, nudging his body with the toe of his shoe. Makoto glances up, startled.

“Um – no, I hope not. Though… I did sit in the wrong classroom today, and I had to grade papers during lunch. Also, Riko-kun asked for tutoring in math, and I agreed to look at Momo-kun’s stroke, and the cooking club asked for volunteers for—“

“Don’t tell me you agreed to all that,” Sousuke groans.

“Was… I not supposed to?” Makoto asks, a genuinely concerned look on his face.

“No, you weren’t.” Sousuke kneels down so that he’s leveled with Makoto, and he pinches his body’s cheek. “Also, you need to stop doing this. You smile and look worried too much, and that’s not me.”

“Ow – ouch, okay!” Makoto slaps the hand away and sits back, rubbing the sore spot with such a hurt look to his teal eyes that Sousuke is starting to feel some strange sort of embarrassment connected to his body.

“Did Rin ask any weird questions?”

“Rin? No, I didn’t see him too often today,” Makoto answers pensively. “And I—oh. Your phone.” He fishes the teal phone out of his pocket and glances at the name on the screen for a second before answering it without hesitation – and before Sousuke can stop him. As soon as he does, a piercing voice starts to shout at him immediately—

_“Sousuke! Where the hell are you? This is the third goddamn practice you’ve skipped in a row!”_

“Ah, Rin – um, well—“

“Tachibana, you idiot, you shouldn’t have answered, hang up,” Sousuke says, burying his face into his hand.

_“—Hold on, are you with Makoto right now? Why the hell is he telling you to hang—“_

Makoto holds the phone a few inches away from his face and frets, “I’m sorry, Yamazaki-kun, I felt really bad for—“

 _“Dude, why are you guys speaking in third person? Agh, nevermind! Just haul your ass back to campus_ _and—“_

Sousuke reaches forward and snatches the phone right out of Makoto’s hand, snapping it shut.

“You shouldn’t have answered—“ Sousuke starts, but Makoto stands up and abruptly cuts him off.

“But why did you have me skip practice in the first place?” Makoto’s tone is more concerned than demanding. “And what’s going on between you and Rin? It hasn’t felt right since this morning with him. If – if for the time being I’m going to be in your body, then you should at least tell me important things like these.”

“You just – you shouldn’t swim, even if it pisses Rin off, okay? Just avoid it when you can, and even if you have to go to practice, lay off on the laps. That’s it.”

“But why?”

“Don’t ask.”

“I have to know.”

“You really don’t.”

Makoto falls silent, observing the way his normally gentle features have twisted with ache. He wonders what thoughts Sousuke could be having right now for him to make such an expression, and he finally says quietly, “Are you injured, Sousuke?”

Sousuke closes his eyes for a few seconds, before looking up at him and saying slowly, “You can’t tell Rin, Tachibana.”

“But you’ve already been scouted by a university for swimming, right? I’m sure if you tell Rin, he’ll give you the time to rehabilitate so that by next year—“

“Let me deal with that once I’m back in my own body. Until then, just don’t meddle.” Before Makoto can try to convince him otherwise, Sousuke grimaces and asks him, “How about you? Is there anything I need to know about pretending to be you? I’m telling you now, your grades are probably going to suffer while I’m here.”

Makoto ponders this for a moment before shaking his head, but a moment later he suddenly says, “You should smile a little more – like this.” He points to his temporary body’s lit-up face and the way the corners of his mouth have pulled up in a toothy grin that reaches all the way to his teal eyes.

“Don’t… don’t do that with my face, Tachibana.” Sousuke lets out a tired sigh and decides to save the smiling rehearsal for later. “You sure? I’m not going to have to suck Kisumi’s dick or anything while I’m like this, right?”

Makoto looks like he’s going to deny that claim right away, but instead he shuts his mouth tight and glances to the side.

“Tachibana – hey, you’re just fucking with me, right?”

“I also don’t swear very often, Yamazaki-kun,” Makoto squeaks out.

“Answer my question.” When it seems like Makoto still isn’t going to comply, Sousuke asks instead, “I mean, I’m not going to have to take it up the ass or anything. Right?” Because despite this not being his body, Sousuke is well aware that any harm or pain done to him while here will be one hundred percent real to him.

Makoto tilts his head to the side. “Wait, why do you think I’m the one who takes it?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for updates and stuff u can look at the tumblr tag [#blown my cover (fic)](http://tumblr.com/tagged/blown%20my%20cover%20\(fic\))  
> i greatly appreciate all the comments and support!! :0


End file.
